My resolution for the new year was to get out and do some more shooting this year and I started out strong. I spent the first Saturday of 2014 out at the Hite Hollow range near Staunton, Va. My neighbor had a new pistol to shoot so we loaded everything up and headed out.

I was very surprised at how well I did. Considering I hadn’t shot any of my rifles in months, I was lucky I could even hit the target. I really don’t like to let skills sit idle for that long, but I guess it was ok this time. I managed some pretty tight groups with my two 22 pistols and was hitting extremely accurate with my AR at 50 yards with both 22lr and .223.

The only gun I shot poorly was my neighbor’s pistol. I don’t think that’s a personal failure either as the gun is nearly the size of my head and I could barely wrap my hand around the grip. At about 7 yards I was hitting the target close enough to be considered deadly, but the time and effort involved in lining each shot up would definitely have cost me dearly in a real-world situation. I will definitely need more practice with a gun this size if I intend to ever use one, but for now I think I’ve decided that a 45 just might not be for me.

My SKS, as I expected, was the most fun to shoot. There’s just something about the 7.62 round being fired from a gun with some wood on it that I really enjoy. I would love to try shooting an AK47, but I’ll settle with the SKS for now. It doesn’t kick, its very accurate (even with open sights), and it just looks so cool. I used to consider my AR to be my #1 choice if things got bad, just because it can shoot two types of ammo. I think I might be starting to change my mind. After all, that Bayonet will be very handy when the zombies come . . .

Today I participated in the “Staunton Shoot n’ Greet” at the Hite Hollow shooting range in Augusta Springs, VA. I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time and I wasn’t disappointed. I got to meet a lot of people and saw a bunch of different firearms. It was also my first time at the Hite Hollow range so I was able to get a look around.

I didn’t do a whole lot of shooting during the several hours I was there, but it was enough. I shot 80 rounds through my Ruger SR22 and 40 rounds through my AR15. There were about 10-15 people with the group and I didn’t want to take time away from others who shoot there frequently. I just hung back and talked to everyone, shooting whenever I got the chance.

The wind was pretty bad and most of the targets everyone was setting up just kept falling down. Eventually Dale (the event coordinator) brought out some plastic colored balls and tossed them across the range. Everyone had a blast trying to hit them while the wind blew them back and forth. I managed to hit the balls 22 out of 32 times with my AR and 31 out of 65 with my SR22. Not bad at all for me.

Safety is a big deal for the group and Dale lead the entire group in a sort of briefing at the beginning to make sure everyone was on the same page. Even people who weren’t in the group took notice when he blew his whistle and called “range cold” or “range hot”. It was nice to see everything so organized. I’m used to several groups of people trying to work together but never really being on the same page. Dale’s method kept everybody safe and ensured everyone had a good time.

I would highly recommend that anyone in the Staunton or Augusta County area come to one of the meets and have some fun. Its free and they meet once every two months. You can find more information over on their website. Their rules, FAQ’s, and lots of other information is right there and easy to find. You can also sign up to receive email reminders whenever the group is going to meet.